


A dream come true

by Sealpotato



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/M, Love Confessions, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24858682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sealpotato/pseuds/Sealpotato
Summary: Shuichi wakes up after spending the night with Kaede in the Love Suite. His feelings for her have escalated after those events and he isn’t sure how to deal with that. Was there something real going on between them, or was it all just a fantasy like Monokuma said it would be?
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	A dream come true

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the salmon team game mode of V3 (there’s no killing game, the goal is to strengthen bonds with other students)  
> For more context it’s recommended that you watch Kaede’s love suite event first, as the story starts off right after those events.
> 
> This is my first fanfiction ever, so any feedback is appreciated!

*diing doong*  
*diiiiing doooong*  
“Rise and shine ursine! Time to wake up!”  
  
The annoying voices of the Monokubs lingered in Shuichi’s eardrums as he woke up from his slumber. He stretched his arms and sat up in his bed. Wait… _his_ bed? Upon looking around, he noticed he was in his own room. Normally, this wouldn’t have been something to be surprised about. But last night, he was somewhere completely different. Hotel Kumasutra. Despite the questionable name, he had spent a couple of nights in the Love Suite of that hotel already. Those nights there, they always felt distant to him. Like some kind of strange dream that he had already mostly forgotten about by the time he woke up. That’s why it never fazed him when he awakened in his own room the next morning. But last night felt different somehow. It felt much more real. Tangible. He clearly remembered he spent the night together with Kaede...so why was he here now?  
  
As the events of last night started repeating themselves in Shuichi’s mind, he felt more and more flustered. He thought about the conversation they had about their first anniversary as a real couple, how she wanted him to call her his sweetheart, how he felt her comforting heartbeat so close to him in her embrace, how they.…  
Shuichi struggled to stop his train of thought. He had to pull himself together and get out of bed. After all, that stuff didn’t really happen, right? When Monokuma explained the Love Suite to him, it was made clear that everything there was just a fantasy, nothing more. He just had to fulfill the other person’s ideal role, and that would be it. But Shuichi definitely didn’t feel like he had to pretend this time. He remembered that he felt genuinely at peace and happy throughout all of it. Most importantly, he felt like he could be himself with her. Nothing he said or did was an act. Even if the whole sweetheart thing was super embarrassing, it definitely wasn’t all that bad.  
Shuichi couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Kaede having such a wholesome fantasy. Then again, he didn’t expect anything different from her. Maybe the lack of small talk about pianos was strange, but that was about it.  
Still, he was wondering how he remembered everything to such a detailed extent. This had never happened before with other classmates. He didn’t even remember who else he had already spent the night with. Although that sudden and pervasive feeling of dread he recently started experiencing around Korekiyo had to originate somewhere…right?

Shuichi changed into a freshly cleaned suit and decided to head outside.  
“Spending some time with other people might help to clear my mind,” he thought. He reached out to grab the door handle, but right at that moment the doorbell rang. Startled for a moment, Shuichi quickly recovered and opened the door. Kaede was standing right in front of him. He instantly felt a shiver pass through his body. He wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing her right now. Did she…also remember what happened?

“Hey Shuichi!”  
Kaede greeted him with her familiar friendly smile.  
“I hope you don’t mind that I stopped by so early? I just wanted to ask you if you would like to hang out with me today. We have been practicing on the piano so much, so I thought, maybe we could try to do something else today?”  
Kaede sought eye contact with Shuichi, but he was awkwardly looking towards a different direction. She felt a little bit disappointed, because she thought he had already overcome his shyness around her. Unless there was something else going on? Kaede blushed, just for a brief moment, before she quickly perished the thoughts that had popped up in her mind.  
“O-oh but, don’t think this means we are done with your lessons!” she added. “We still have a lot to work on! Your progress has been great, but that doesn’t mean we can stop now!”  
Shuichi finally loosened up a bit and let out a chuckle because of her sudden resolute attitude. He felt all fluttery inside, which was not unusual for him to feel around her, but today it was noticeably more intense than he had experienced before.  
“S-sure, Kaede, I would love to hang out with you today.”  
The moment Kaede asked him out, he had already forgotten about his plan to spend time with other classmates. There was no way he could refuse her offer after she approached him so enthusiastically. And despite the confusion in his head, it was not like he was opposed to spending the day with her. In fact, he desperately wanted to.   
“Great! Let’s go to the courtyard. I think some fresh air would be nice.”  
Before Shuichi could say anything in return, Kaede grabbed one of his wrists and walked with him towards their destination. All Shuichi could do was wonder why she was so eager to drag him along today. He didn’t particularly mind, but even for someone as outgoing as Kaede, this seemed a bit more pressing than usual.

After a short walk, they arrived at the courtyard. Even though the school grounds were completely covered by a dome, this place felt surprisingly refreshing to be at.  
They decided to sit down on one of the benches. After settling down, neither of them said a word.  
None of their other classmates seemed to be around, so it was really quiet. Kaede leaned with her back against the bench and looked up at the sky, the view being partly obstructed by the dome. She seemed to feel peaceful, but the silence was starting to make Shuichi feel nervous. Was he supposed to say something? Did she really drag him here just to sit down and do nothing else? He started wondering if he should bring up what he was thinking about in the morning.  
“No, I couldn’t possibly…” he thought. “That could get really awkward, especially if she doesn’t remember anything.”  
Deeply lost in thought, Shuichi got shaken up by a sudden weight he felt pressing onto him. He looked over, and immediately noticed that Kaede had started leaning against him, her head resting on his shoulder.  
“K-Kaede?!” he exclaimed in surprise, but he took care not to move an inch so he wouldn’t disturb her.  
Kaede had a bit of worry in her voice when she asked, “Ah, Shuichi, is it…okay that I’m doing this? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I should have asked, my bad.”  
“Ah..uhm, n-no, it’s definitely fine. It was just a bit sudden is all.” Shuichi felt his cheeks glowing. Being so close to Kaede felt amazing to him, it was like all of his worries disappeared in those moments. It happened from time to time during piano practice too, but he never grew used to the feeling. It was not like he wanted that to happen anyway, because this was something he would never want to take for granted. He wanted to appreciate every second of it. He just never expected Kaede to do it on purpose like this. He always thought she wasn’t aware of how close she would get to him during practice because she was always so focused on teaching him, but her actions now made him suspect she had been doing it purpose all along. Maybe that was just wishful thinking though.  
“I’m glad that it’s okay.” Kaede interrupted his thoughts with her gentle voice. “If you don’t mind, I just want to relax like this with you for a while. We don’t have to talk about anything, unless you want to of course. I just…really appreciate that you are here with me.” She closed her eyes and started blushing a bit. Shuichi definitely noticed it this time. In response, he gently placed his hand on top of hers, their fingers intertwining. There they were, sitting next to each other in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company. Normally it would have been possible to hear birds chirping, or leaves rustling in the wind, but in these circumstances such things weren’t possible. The only sounds that could be heard were the occasional exclamations from Tenko in the distance, often followed by the sound of something crashing. But neither Kaede nor Shuichi noticed any of that. They both already dozed off.

After some time, Shuichi woke up. He yawned and looked over to see how Kaede was doing. His slight movements were enough to wake her up too. She caught him looking at her with his sleepy face, which made her smile. Shuichi completely melted at the sight of that sweet smile, and looked away in an inevitably unsuccessful attempt to hide his red face. “Damn it, if only I had brought my cap today,” he thought to himself.  
Kaede chuckled and got up.  
“Come on, let’s grab some food and head back to the dorms,” she said. “I don’t know exactly how long we were here, but I can’t imagine that there is enough time left to do much else today.”  
Shuichi nodded. Together they set forth towards the dining hall. Shuichi’s thoughts got the upper hand again while they were making their way there.  
“This day was so nice, even though I was asleep for most of it,” he thought. “I’m a bit sad that it has to end so soon, but tomorrow is another day. Maybe we could practice on the piano again; I want to show her how much I’ve already learned from her. I’ll be sure to suggest it tomorrow. I never thought I would want to spend so much time with someone else…what’s this joyful feeling I keep having around Kaede? Something about her is really special.” His feelings had definitely gotten stronger after everything that happened the night before, but they had been there ever since he first met her. Even though he wasn’t used to these kinds of feelings, they certainly weren’t unpleasant, despite the fact that they could be overwhelming sometimes.  
  
After eating and spending some more time chatting about all kinds of random topics, Shuichi and Kaede said their goodbyes and went back to their rooms. Upon closing the door behind him and being completely alone again, Shuichi realized that his heart was beating really fast. He decided to take a cold shower to wind down. After freshening up, Shuichi felt more relaxed, but understandably, he was not tired at all yet. He decided to check out his bookshelf and grabbed a random book to pass some time reading. He didn’t even care what the book was about.  
“ _The Wizard of Monomi_ huh…that sounds boring enough to make me sleepy,” he thought as he prepared to get comfy in bed. 

“SHUICHI!”  
Shuichi had barely even glanced at the first page of his book when he heard _that_ voice call out his name. He put down the book and peered towards the direction the voice was coming from. There was no mistaking who it was.  
“Monokuma? What are you doing here!? You can’t just barge in like that!”  
The tiny plush bear was standing next to Shuichi’s bed.  
“How rude!” Monokuma exclaimed. “Is that how you treat your visitors? Well fine, if you don’t want me, I will just leave…” Monokuma looked down to the ground and put on his pouty face.  
Shuichi decided to take the obvious bait, against his better judgement.  
“No, wait. Why did you come here?”  
Quickly recovering his posture, Monokuma started giggling.  
“Puhuhu, I knew you would come around. You’re a curious little boy after all. I just came here to bring you a present.”  
Monokuma held up a shiny key and dropped it next to Shuichi on the bed. Shuichi immediately knew what it was.  
“A love key? Why are you giving me this? There’s a reason why I didn’t get any more keys from your stupid casino. After last night…I don’t want any other encounters in the Love Suite anymore. I don’t want to spend the night there with anyone…other than _…_ ah, forget it. Please bother someone else with this.”  
Shuichi opened the book and held it right in front of his face in an attempt to convey the message even more clearly.   
“Puhuhu, you don’t have to act so mysterious Shuichi. It’s so obvious; you really aren’t good at hiding that flagpole of yours when Kaede is around, y’know?” Monokuma winked.  
“H-hey! I never even mentio-“  
Before Shuichi could finish his sentence, Monokuma interrupted.  
“Aaaanyway, why did you think I brought this key for you? You don’t want to keep Kaede waiting riiight? I can’t wait to see what you guys will get up to this time!” Monokuma started sweating and breathing heavily. It was gross.   
Shuichi decided to ignore Monokuma’s questionable attitude and got back to the point.   
“Why do you care? More importantly, how are you so sure that Kaede will be there? I can’t remember many details, but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered the same person twice before in that hotel.”  
Monokuma snapped out of his weird fantasy and took on a serious tone.  
“You know, I’m not a bad guy. At least, in _this_ particular story I’m not. That’s not always the case though… Puhuhu.”  
Ignoring Shuichi’s confused expression after that statement, Monokuma continued.  
“Sure, I may have locked you guys up for now, but it’s all for the sake of forming bonds with each other! I care because I want to help you accomplish that! You have to know something about the Love Suite, Shuichi. I explained to you how everything there is just a dream, a fantasy, right? Well, that wasn’t the full truth. You see, if two people share the same fantasy, then it actually becomes a real event! Because if both people consent, you don’t have to be in a dream to be able to experience what you want!”  
Shuichi needed a moment to process that statement.  
“S-so wait, do I only remember last night so well because…it was all real!?”  
Monokuma grinned.  
“Puhuhu, who knows? Maybe it was just the strong desire of your front tail that allowed yourself to recall those steamy moments you experienced! Anyway, why don’t you go and find out for yourself?”  
With another wink, Monokuma bounced out of the room before Shuichi could respond.

“Ugh, why does he always have to make things more complicated?” Shuichi mumbled to himself. He picked up the key and clutched it in his hand.  
“Should I really use this? What if it’s a trap? Monokuma can’t be trusted! But…what if he was telling the truth? What if Kaede really is waiting for me there?”  
Shuichi spent a couple of minutes contemplating what he should do. In the end, he came to a decision.  
“I can’t let Kaede down if she is really there. If it’s someone else, I will just…run away! I-I will pinch myself and wake up!” Shuichi said this out loud to gather up the courage to follow through with his plan, but he couldn’t help but feel worried. Even if Kaede turned out to be there, what was he supposed to do? There were a lot of things he needed to talk about with her, but he wasn’t sure if he had the guts to do it. Worrying too much about that beforehand wasn’t going to help him at all though, he realized that. With the key still in his hand, Shuichi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and drifted off to sleep…

Shortly after, Shuichi opened his eyes again. The dark, gloomy atmosphere of his dorm room had been replaced by the bright pinks and reds of the Love Suite. He was standing right near the entrance. He never questioned how he got there; it was a dream after all. That’s what it was supposed to be, at least. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. Soon enough, he realized that no one else was present. He was starting to think that Monokuma played a stupid prank on him.   
“I guess if no one is here, I might as well go to sleep. This bed is much more comfortable than my own, anyway,” he thought. He wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed, but at the very least he was glad that nothing weird or painful would happen.   
Shuichi moved the heavy bedsheet aside. Just as he was about to lie down, he heard the sound of light footsteps behind him. He turned around and immediately took a step backwards in surprise when he saw that the person standing right in front of him was none other than Kaede.

“O-oh, hi! Kaede! Uhm, w-when did you get here? I-I didn’t see you until now.” Shuichi felt a sudden wave of nervousness take him over. He couldn’t help but stutter.  
“Don’t worry!” she said. “I just got here. It’s…nice to see you. Even though it hasn’t been very long since the previous time we saw each other, haha.”  
Shuichi had no idea what to expect from this situation. What was going to happen tonight? He hoped from the bottom of his heart that it wasn’t going to be too awkward.  
Before getting lost into an endless flow of overthinking again, Shuichi replied to Kaede.  
“Y-yeah, that’s true. B-but I’m glad too!”  
Kaede wasn’t sure why he was stuttering so much. He seemed stressed out. More than usual anyway. She giggled softly and ruffled Shuichi’s hair playfully, which caught him off guard for a moment, but not in a bad way. She walked past him, sat down on the side of the bed and motioned for him to join her. Shuichi followed up and sat down next to her, keeping some distance between them.

“Shuichi-“  
“Kaede-“  
They both chuckled as they brought up each other’s name at the same time.  
“Ah, s-sorry Kaede, you were first. Please, go ahead.”  
Kaede shook her head. He was always so polite, maybe even too much for his own good, she thought.  
“Alright then, if you say so,” she said. “I just want to ask you something. I know this is a dream…probably…but I really have to ask it to confirm something. So…what were you doing last night? Sorry if this is a weird question…but I have to know, okay?”  
Shuichi’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting such a direct question. He figured he should just be honest about it.  
“L-last night, huh. To tell you the truth, I was dreaming that I was in this same room. You were there too. We uh…discussed some things.”  
For once it was Kaede’s turn to be startled. It was the reply she had been hoping for, but not the one she was expecting to get.  
“Ah! We discussed some things you say? Was that…all?” Her cheeks turned red and she shyly averted her gaze towards the floor.  
Shuichi was a bit surprised by the way she reacted to his answer. Either way, he had to answer her follow-up question too. He took a deep breath and prepared for the awkwardness that was likely about to happen.   
“W-well, not exactly. We also hugged for a long time. And you asked if I wanted to, uh...”  
Shuichi could feel the blood rushing towards his face. “…You asked if I wanted to do it with you. So…we did...”  
Shuichi mumbled that last part so quietly that he wasn’t sure if Kaede even heard it. He was ready to be scolded, to be called a pervert. But all Kaede did was let out a relieved sigh.  
Without saying anything, the blushing Kaede reached for his hand. As soon as they made contact, a pleasant shiver went through Shuichi’s body. Her hands were so delicate and warm. Her touch…there was no feeling quite like it.  
“Shuichi, thank you. Thank you for telling me truthfully. I guess…I guess it wasn’t a dream after all.”  
She smiled happily. Shuichi finally realized what was going on. She must have asked him those questions because she remembered too. It was just as Monokuma said. Everything that happened last night…it must have been real. The two of them shared the same fantasy. Shuichi was so used to filling the role of his partner’s ideal, it hadn’t occurred to him that the fact he had so much fun with Kaede was because they were doing the things that _he_ wanted to do as well. He had to confirm it though.  
“What’s this all about?” he asked. “Did Monokuma visit you too? Did he explain this Love Suite to you too?”  
Kaede nodded.  
“Yep. The truth is, I remember everything we did last night. I thought I was just going to be acting along with your fantasy, but I felt such a real feeling of happiness at that moment. I was really bummed when I woke up alone in my own room the next morning. I remembered everything so vividly, as if it was all real, so that confused me too. I asked you to hang out today because I wanted to tell you about it, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It just felt kind of weird to bring something like that up out of the blue, you know? But that changed when Monokuma visited me. He gave me a key and told me that you would be here. He explained that it wasn’t just a dream if we both experienced the same thing. So I…I had to know.” She tightened her grip on Shuichi’s hand.  
Upon finally having the answers he had been trying to find, Shuichi felt his nervousness drift away. His tense expression softened and a smile appeared on his face.  
“What a relief,” he said as he used his free hand to move a loose strand of hair out of Kaede’s face, tucking it behind her ear.  
“To tell you the truth, I’ve been feeling the exact same way. I couldn’t stop thinking about it today but I was too scared to bring it up. I didn’t want you to get the wrong impression. I thought, it’s okay if it was just a dream, as long as that would mean that we could still spend time together as friends during our days here.”  
“As friends, huh?” Kaede said with a teasing undertone. She grabbed Shuichi’s other hand, holding both of them in hers. Their gazes met each other. Kaede had adored Shuichi’s bright eyes ever since they first met. Even though stumbling out of a dusty locker wasn’t exactly the most fabulous way to meet someone, it had its charm in its own weird way.  
“I think it’s about time I told you, for real…”  
  
She moved a little closer. Shuichi gulped, his attention fully focused on her.   
“…We haven’t known each other for very long, but I’m so glad that I got to meet you here. I think I would have felt hopeless in this situation if you weren’t around. It’s not like we are in danger or anything, but I don’t like being locked up like this. But I feel like I can always rely on you to help me feel at ease. Oh, but that’s not the only reason why I like you! We definitely would have gotten along really well in any other situation, too! We share a lot of the same interests, and you are so kind and smart and…aww shoot, I totally started rambling!”  
Shuichi listened attentively, the butterflies in his stomach growing more intense with every word she said. He could hardly wrap his mind around the fact that Kaede was really saying all these things about him. He understood what she was trying to convey, because he recognized these kinds of feelings from his own experience. He just never expected it to be mutual like that. However, considering the truth they had just figured out together, there was no doubt in his mind that she really meant it all.  
Kaede was feeling a little nervous about what was coming next, so she let go of Shuichi’s hands. She didn’t want him to notice that hers were starting to get sweaty. She lowered her voice and started speaking more quietly, almost like a whisper.  
“Well…anyway…my point is…” She took a deep breath.  
“I love you. I love you, Shuichi. Will you be my boyfriend? For real this time?”  
She immediately buried her face into her hands. “ _I totally overdid it!”_ she thought. “ _This is so awkward!_ ”  
Shuichi stared with wide open eyes at Kaede, who was clearly feeling embarrassed. His face got totally flushed upon hearing those three words.  
“ _I love you…”_  
He didn’t need more than a second to think of an answer though. He gently put his arm around her shoulder, comforting her.  
“Kaede…I love you too. I would love to be your boyfriend. For real.” He spoke softly.  
As soon as she processed what Shuichi had just said to her, Kaede dared to look up again. Her expression was radiating joy. She snuggled closer to Shuichi, pressing her face against his chest and wrapping her arms around him. Shuichi gently pulled her onto his lap and kissed the top of her head softly.  
They stayed still like that for a little while.  
Shuichi felt like he was in heaven; hearing Kaede’s soft breathing, having her arms so tightly around him, feeling her so close to him…he would have been happy to stay in that moment forever.   
“ _I love you, Shuichi_.” That phrase kept replaying in his head. This was all really happening. As long as Kaede would be by his side, he felt like he would be ready to face any situation with confidence in his heart.

Finally, the silence was broken by Kaede’s soft voice.  
“Hey, Shuichi…” she whispered, slowly bringing her face closer to his, “don’t you forget our real anniversary next time, okay?”  
Shuichi chuckled and shook his head.  
“How could I ever?”  
In response to Kaede’s movements, he leaned in and went for a kiss. She eagerly gave in and gently pushed him downwards onto the bed. Not wanting to break their connection, she ended up lying on top of him. Eventually, they had to stop to catch a breath. Kaede rolled next to Shuichi and pressed herself against his side, slowly tracing her hand from his cheek to the side of his neck, down to his chest. Shuichi could feel his heart racing.  
Still gasping a bit from the kiss, Kaede whispered to him.  
“I’m so happy, Shuichi. Please…hold me close. The only place where I want to be right now is right here with you.”  
She did not have to ask twice. Shuichi took her into his arms, their hearts beating closely together.  
Instinctively, he started stroking her back. He could feel that she was starting to breathe more heavily against his chest. He moved his hand a bit further down….then stopped and pulled back when he realized what he was doing.  
“Ah…s-sorry Kaede” he uttered, “I let myself get carried away a little bit. I…I don’t want to do anything you’re not okay with.”   
Kaede smiled.  
“Aww…you’re always so considerate. I...really like that about you. But did you forget, silly? We’re officially together now. So it’s okay…you don’t have to hold back…I-I really want you….”  
Before she could say anything else, Shuichi went for another kiss. This was a surprise to Kaede, but a welcome one. She was not expecting Shuichi to have such an eager side to him. But the fact that he was showing this side to her now, she was sure that it meant that he was finally starting to become more confident around her, which was something she felt really glad about.  
As Kaede was lying on her back, Shuichi got on top of her, leaning onto his arms which he had placed next to both sides of the pillow. He looked down to Kaede, who looked right back into his eyes.  
“You’re really pretty, Kaede…” he whispered as he slowly moved one hand under Kaede’s shirt, caressing her. He leaned downward and started kissing her neck, slowly moving down from there.  
“You’re not so bad yourself, mister detective,” Kaede teased as she relished Shuichi’s gentle touches, letting her mind drift away…

…

Shuichi opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling above him. Last night…it was something he never would have dared to hope for. Turning over to his side, he was expecting to see the grey walls of his own room again. Instead, to his pleasant surprise, he saw Kaede sleeping next to him. They were still in the hotel suite. The sight of her adorable sleeping face made him smile. He gently ran his fingers through her hair. Not wanting to wake her up, he turned to lie down on his back again and closed his eyes, letting the peacefulness of the quiet morning engulf him.

Shuichi was awoken again by the feeling of Kaede’s soft lips pressing against his.  
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” she whispered.  
Shuichi smiled and took her in his arms once again.  
“Good morning….sweetheart.”


End file.
